Be Careful What You Wish For

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This is a cautionary tale about the way things get done in the United States Senate. One of the least appreciated phenomena of the past couple election cycles is the appearance on the scene of a claque of extremely enthusiastic show ponies. Senator Aqua Buddha of Kentucky is at the head of the parade, but Tailgunner Ted Cruz from Texas is moving on up. This has a tendency to move the debate not only to the right, but also deeper into the spotlight. So, when people talk about "reforming" the Senate rules by forcing people who filibuster actually to get up there and talk, we should always remember that there are now enough young members of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body to do that with bells on. And, sooner or later, people with legitimate national ambitions — That's not you, Rand. — find themselves drawn in as well.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday joined a group of Republicans threatening to filibuster gun control legislation in the Senate. "We, the undersigned, intend to oppose any legislation that would infringe on the American people's constitutional right to bear arms, or on their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance," he wrote in a statement on his website. "The Second Amendment to the Constitution protects citizens' right to self-defense. It speaks to history's lesson that government cannot be in all places at all times, and history's warning about the oppression of a government that tries."

Note, if you will, that this is Rubio's now opposing any gun-control legislation, if any, that will emerge from the process. Note, also, that background checks have now become, in the mind of Marco Rubio, rising Republican star, a matter of "being subjected to government surveillance." And he has announced his intention to express these views publicly, and at length, and on television for the purposes of delaying any action at all on an issue on which 91 percent of the country disagrees with him. The "talking filibuster" is a reform only if there aren't any people willing to use it. This was a deterrent only as long as most Republican senators were too old and/or lazy actually to engage in one. That is not the case any more. The show ponies are pulling the wagon now.